


Taking Breaks

by Asymptotical



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: First Dates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 06:09:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20003584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asymptotical/pseuds/Asymptotical
Summary: Scott wasn't very good at talking to people, with one very obvious exception.





	Taking Breaks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



Scott knew he wasn’t the best at connecting with people, so when he was on the Nexus he tried to make an effort. Mostly via scheduled meetings, because that was slightly easier to get his head around than showing up to make smalltalk with people who might not even like him. 

If he happened to have slightly more frequent meetings with security, well, the APEX teams were constantly deploying so there was just more to discuss. That was all. 

“Bad fight?” Kandros asked as Scott slipped into the security HQ. 

Scott winced. Medigel worked quickly, but not fast enough to instantly remove bruises. No matter how many times he pointed out that he literally had a doctor on board his ship and an AI monitoring every minute detail of his health, it didn’t seem to calm anyone down about it whenever they came back to the Nexus this close to the end of a fight. 

It was probably a good thing that his ‘avoid using limited medigel supplies for non-essential applications’ plan had been thoroughly shot down by Lexi the first time he’d tried it. It only would have caused more fuss. 

“Not bad, just recent. We came straight here from an extraction,” he answered, shrugging. “We aren’t heading back out until tomorrow so I should be all set by then.” 

Kandros looked a bit skeptical. “When’s the last time you took a break?” 

Scott shrugged, glancing over the APEX table. “Technically we get breaks every time we’re in transit, and every time we dock.” 

“Breaks don’t only mean time not spent fighting.” 

“I’m not doing Pathfinder stuff the whole time,” Scott countered. “Lexi would get on my ass something terrible.” 

“And how much of it are you spending working on _other_ things?” Kandros asked, glancing down at the table to bring up some of the reports and reconstructions from the APEX missions that had gone on since the last time Scott was able to stop by. 

It definitely made the mandatory meetings a lot easier. Everyone else, he had to just talk with. Here they could do something at the same time. Kesh was a close second since some sort of diagram usually came into play. 

Even talking with Kandros without anything else to do probably would be easier than talking with the rest of leadership, but Scott figured that was the shared military background and the fact that Kandros almost definitely didn’t actively dislike him. 

Scott almost said that he wasn’t working in this downtime, then paused. “Personal projects don’t count as work.” 

“If your ‘personal projects’ are in any way benefiting the Nexus, then they count.” Kandros tapped the display. “How you prioritize, I’d be surprised if they didn’t.” 

Scott shrugged. “It’s mostly… improving stuff. Or adjusting things to work near the Scourge. Nothing essential. SAM can do most of it on his own so what I have to actually do is fairly limited.” 

Most of Nexus leadership seemed to expect him to become his dad and pull an AI out of his ass or something… But Scott wasn’t at _that_ level, not anywhere near it. Even if he _was_ , dad had taken over a decade to make SAM. 

At least people did seem to appreciate the little fixes. It was nice to have something go right, even something as small as a sensor fix. Since most of their tech-focused people had more essential fixes than they could possibly keep up with, pretty much anything Scott could get out helped. They’d set him up with a whole work ticket system so he could easily see what needed updated most. 

Okay. Maybe it was work. 

Kandros shook his head, “If you aren’t balanced you’ll end up burning out.” 

“That’s what Lexi says but so far I’m fine.” Scott brushed it off. It was… slightly less annoying to have Kandros fussing over him than it normally would be. Maybe because Kandros was involved enough in their ops to know what was at stake? 

“I’d say you should take some time off but I have a feeling you’d end up doing something else that turned out to be work. You said you’re here until tomorrow?” 

“Yeah,” Scott answered, figuring that was that for the fussing if Kandros was checking timetable. “If we don’t finish here before I’ve got to go talk to Kesh, then we can meet back up in the morning. Sounded like it should be doable in the next few hours though.” 

Kandros laughed, startling Scott. “You’re worse than a Turian.” 

Scott just gave him a confused look. 

“What I _meant_ ,” Kandros continued, “is that you should do something to relax. There’s a bar now. Turns out some chemists are decent at flavor profile. If I schedule the teams for some training they won’t be there to turn the place rowdy.” 

“Okay…” Scott frowned. That… wasn’t really his scene? Rowdy or not. In fact he was pretty sure-- 

“Calendar says your meeting with Kesh is over right about when I’ll be done debriefing Team Foxtrot. We can eat at the cafeteria and then go get some drinks.” 

Oh. That made a lot more sense. Social stuff. Scott could do that… He probably _should_ get that soil scanner update out but… it wasn’t essential? And hanging out with Kandros did sound… nice. 

Plus half the point of going to all these meetings was working on the social side of things. This had less of a plausible reason, and he wasn’t sure that food would make socializing as easy as strategizing did, but if he didn’t try it at least once and Sara got wind of it when she woke up she’d never shut up about it. 

“If you’re thinking about work you are proving my point,” Kandros pointed out. 

Scott laughed. “Not entirely. That’ll work. Kesh and I were going to go over the electrical scans that we did for her last time so as long as none of those need to be redone then I should be finished there on schedule.” 

* * *

_”Vetra’s directly out of your line of sight. Likely deliberately,”_ SAM warned, just in time. 

“You should really ask him out,” she said. 

Thanks to SAM’s warning Scott didn’t jump. 

Nobody had ever mentioned that having an AI headbuddy meant getting to actually react like a cool person who didn’t get startled by things like Turians lurking around corners. Probably because the only other people who had any experience with SAMs were _actually_ cool people. The original Pathfinders wouldn’t realize the gulf between their reactions and normal people reactions. 

Scott was really enjoying not being on the normal people reaction scale anymore, even if he was cheating. 

Unfortunately he also wasn’t on the normal people something because Vetra’s question made no sense. 

“What am I asking who now?” he asked. 

Vetra sighed at him, pushing off of the wall and tossing the datapad she’d been working on at him. 

He glanced at it. It was… shipping requisitions. Nothing to do with whatever she was asking. Apparently they were working _and_ asking odd things all at the same time. Which was good because while Kesh probably wouldn’t give him shit for being late, he still didn’t want to be, and this was something he could do while walking. 

He flicked through the rows of the spreadsheet as he resumed walking towards Kesh’s office, idly wondering why exactly Vetra needed Elcor-made spicy cheetos. 

“The guy you’ve been _mooning_ over? Who else would you ask out?” She patted his shoulder. 

Scott stopped, glancing at her in confusion. “I haven’t been mooning over anyone.” 

She stared at him for a moment, then sighed. “Why are you like this?” 

“Like what?!” This was… not at all fair. Scott was fairly sure if he’d been _mooning_ over anyone he would know it. 

“Uh, Tiran? You literally just came out of a meeting with him. One of the eight hundred ones you have with him every time we’re on the Nexus. Eventually you’re going to run out of excuses.” 

“That was-- That was APEX stuff!” Scott protested, flushing. So much for getting to look like a cool person. 

“She does have an accurate assessment of your behavior,” SAM said from Scott’s omnitool speaker, the traitor. 

“It’s a _professional relationship_.” 

“It’s embarrassing is what it is,” Vetra said smoothly. It was unfair how easily she seemed to say everything, but not surprising since unlike Scott she was actually a cool person. “Get it over with. Ask him out. We’ve got a bar now, go have drinks.” 

“Fortunately,” SAM said, “Lieutenant Kandros has already asked him out.” 

Vetra laughed, looking delighted, “When did _that_ happen?” 

“Just now.” 

“For fucks sake, Ryder. Next time say that instead of flailing about! Did you think we weren’t going to find out in about five seconds? The whole Nexus is going to have your wedding planned the moment you go on date number two.” 

Scott flushed even redder. “It’s not like _that_. It’s just-- as friends! He thought I wasn’t taking enough breaks. That’s it.” 

Vetra went quiet, looking at him oddly. SAM was also quiet but that was normal. 

Then she started laughing again. “Hey SAM. Try to keep time on how long it takes him to actually come to the right conclusion.” 

“There’s no conclusion to come to! We are both professional people, being professional! I’m pretty sure that’s-- that’s a conflict of interest or something!” 

“You’re on a colonial mission, not in the military. The rules are different here,” Vetra countered smoothly. “How about it SAM?” 

“I’ll keep a record,” SAM answered, because he was a horrible traitor, apparently. 

Scott tried not to glare as Vetra grabbed the datapad out of his hands and wandered back off. 

Which was silly because he hadn’t even signed it yet. 

Unless it had just been a way to catch him off guard which was… It was very Vetra, he supposed. 

* * *

It took about two hours into friendly drinks for Scott to realize that maybe, just maybe, Vetra had a point. At least on Scott’s side. He wasn’t-- He wasn’t going to assume anything about Kandros’ intentions. 

It was… nice. Even without the strategy table as a go-between it was far easier to talk with Kandros than Scott would have expected. It wasn’t like he could blame anything on getting drunk. SAM could keep alcohol from affecting him so he never got more than slightly buzzed. 

He’d… he’d have to think about it. And maybe ask for a second date. Or-- Second drinks? This wasn’t explicitly a date so... Shit. 

Sure, the end of the night followed the ‘that was fun let’s do this again’ format but that didn’t mean it was a _date_. 

Next time he should verify the date status. He had enough meetings at the security HQ, it would be easy to do. 

_“You could call him and ask,”_ SAM pointed out privately as Scott made his way back to the Tempest. 

Scott frowned, shaking his head slightly. It was far easier to deal with things when he had another excuse for being there. Regardless of the answer, he’d want to be able to transition right into APEX issues to avoid any awkwardness lingering between meetings. 

His omnitool beeped with a new message, and when Scott saw Kandros’s name on it he was instantly suspicious that SAM had gone ahead and done something anyways. Especially since the header was “Idea for next time”. 

_“I have not contacted Lieutenant Kandros about this subject,”_ SAM countered, sounding smug. _“You should read the email.”_

“It can wait for five minutes,” Scott muttered. Kandros had probably already gotten back to his place, was all. 

SAM ignored him and opened the email. 

_Got a notif from hydroponics that they’re planning some sort of ‘festival’ for the first big fruit yield marked for consumption. They’re trying to time it right for a few crops. Should be sometime next week. Looks like your expected schedule lines up. Not too many things to do for dates on the Nexus but if anything else comes up I’ll let you know._

Scott just stared at the email for a few moments. 

Which was silly, really. It was planning. Scott already knew about the festival, even, because the guys down in hydroponics kept bugging him for schedule updates since they wanted the Pathfinder to be there. 

Which probably meant making it into a date would draw a lot of attention. 

A _date_. 

_“You should respond,”_ SAM told him. 

“I will when I get back to the Tempest,” Scott countered, decisively closing his omnitool. 

Hopefully Kandros wouldn’t mind being left on read for a bit. He was… he was smart enough to calculate Scott’s travel time so it would probably be fine? 

Except he had already been standing in the hallway for several minutes. 

Scott flicked the omnitool back on. Best to just respond. It wasn’t like anyone else was around and he didn’t want to risk Kandros thinking he _didn’t_ want to go on another date. 


End file.
